Baseball Talk Philadelphia

July 14, 2016

Reading first baseman Rhys Hoskins hit a three-run homer in the Eastern League All Star Game on Wednesday (Frank Klose/Philliedelphia)

By: Brandon Apter, Senior Staff Writer

Both the Double-A Eastern League and Triple-A International League had their All-Star Games on Wednesday night and a handful of Philadelphia Phillies prospects shined in the respective showcases. Dylan Cozens, Rhys Hoskins, Jorge Alfaro, Jesmuel Valentin, Hoby Milner and Nick Pivetta represented the Reading Fightin' Phils in the Eastern League game while Andrew Knapp, Cam Perkins and Edward Mujica all played a part in the International League game.

Let's start in Double-A with the members of Reading playing for the East Division All-Stars in Akron, Ohio. The Fightins made their presence known early in the game as Jorge Alfaro hit a two-out single. Dylan Cozens followed with a walk and then Rhys Hoskins blasted a three-run home run to give the East an early 3-0 lead. In the fourth, Cozens reached on a force out and scored the East's seventh run of the game. Second baseman Jesmuel Valentin hit a double and scored in the eighth inning, extending the lead to 8-2 over the West. Reading starter Nick Pivetta pitched a scoreless third inning for the East while Hoby Milner tossed two-thirds of the final inning, allowing no hits.

July 12, 2016

SAN DIEGO — Beautiful Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, hosted the 87th annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game about as well as possible. The weather was, well, San Diego weather. The field looked about as nice as any baseball field you'll ever see. And the pre-game ceremonies featured a special announcements that the National League and American League hitting champion awards would be named after Hall of Famers Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn.

The game itself was a closely played contest as well, with the American League ultimately holding on for a 4-2 win that they hope will propel them to a second consecutive World Series title in October.

The MLB All-Star game was first played in 1933 as a one-time-only event at Chicago's Comiskey Park as part of the Chicago's World's Fair. But the game proved to be incredibly popular, with the games greatest stars on the field together during one game. Two Phillies - slugging outfielder Chuck Klein and shortstop Dick Bartell - started the game for the National League while two Philadelphia A's were reserves on the American League roster managed by the Athletics' manager Connie Mack (first baseman Jimmie Foxx and pitcher Lefty Grove). The game proved so popular that it became a yearly event (except in 1945) enjoyed by baseball fans across the globe.

Philadelphia has hosted four MLB All-Star games, with the Phillies hosting three of the four in 1952, 1976, and 1996. Below is a brief overview of each game with interesting factoids that made each game unique.

June 17, 2016

Hammond Field in Fort Myers, Florida will host the 2016 Florida State League All-Star Game on June 18. (Brandon Apter/Philliedelphia)

It's a rebuilding year for the Phillies. They were seven games over .500 and now they are a season-worst seven games under .500. While a lot of the focus is on the prospects in Double-A and Triple-A, there have been some impressive players in the lower levels of the minors as well. The Florida State League and South Atlantic League are holding their All-Star Games in the coming week and 12 Phillies prospects are headed to the respective contests. Three players from Class 'A' Lakewood will be going to Lexington, Kentucky for the SAL All-Star Game on Tuesday, June 21 while nine players from Advanced 'A' Clearwater will play in the FSL All-Star Game on Saturday, June 18 in Fort Myers, Florida. Here's who is heading to the respective midseason games from Lakewood and Clearwater.

Lakewood Blueclaws

Jose Pujols (OF) - Ranked as the 24th best prospect in the Phillies organization by MLB.com, Pujols has struggled recently, but has shown off a good power stroke this season. In 61 games, he's hitting just .232, but he has 10 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs, 34 RBI's and 30 runs scored. Since joining the Phillies organization in 2013, he's hitting just .224. He's just 20 years old, so there's plenty of time for Pujols to improve his tools at the plate. His 10 homers are good for third place in the South Atlantic League.

Josh Tobias (2B) - Selected in the 10th round of the 2015 draft, the 23-year-old out of Florida is hitting .285 with 16 doubles, a triple, five homers, 37 RBI's and 28 runs scored. He's in his second full season with the Phillies organization and has hit .303 in 123 games between 2015 and 2016.

Luke Leftwich (RHP) - Leftwich, 22, was a seventh round pick in last year's draft by the Phillies. His 2.15 ERA is ranked fourth in the SAL and his 80 strikeouts lead the league. Leftwich has pitched six or more innings in six of his 11 starts while he's tallied six or more strikeouts in eight of his 11 starts. His last time out, he hurled seven scoreless innings, scattering just four hits while striking out 11.

July 15, 2015

While MLB's Midsummer Classic may have ended on Tuesday night, on Wednesday, the Triple-A All-Star Game took place in Omaha, Nebraska, home of the Royals Triple-A team, the Storm Chasers. The lone representative from the Ironpigs for the International League was infielder Tyler Henson. Hitting just .263 on the season, Henson was drafted by the Orioles in the fifth round of the 2006 draft. He has 16 doubles and has driven in 39 runs. Now in his second season in the Phillies organization, the 27-year-old traveled to Nebraska to take part in the All-Star Game and went 1-for-3 at the plate, with his one hit being the difference maker for the International League All-Stars.

This week has been quite an adventure for Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon. On Monday, All Star media day, he spoke to the media and said it was time for the Phillies to "you-know-what or get off the pot". He hasn't exactly been shy about his urge to be dealt, but the way he's handled it hasn't really been professional at all. The Phillies are terrible this season and it takes a toll, but the way he handles himself with the media has to be something other teams view as a con when it comes to a trade.

Cincinnati, OH - The 86th installment of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in favor of the American League (41-43-2), as they topped the National League (43-41-2), 6-3.

Angels outfielder Mike Trout, who is native to Millville, New Jersey, became the first player in Major League Baseball history to win-back-to-back All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards. He went 2-3 with a triple and two runs-batted-in last year at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The American League, clinching home-field advantage in this October's World Series, has won three consecutive All-Star games. They have outscored the National League over this stretch, 14 runs to six.

April 29, 2015

The 2015 All-Star game ballot was released today, even though we are not yet done the first month of action. The voting in 2015 will be different than the past; "hanging chads" will not be a worry, nor will fans have to worry about finding a way to punch ballots with their keys, straws, or whatever else happened to be nearby in the ballpark.

The Phillies players on the 2015 ballot are:

Ryan Howard, first base

Chase Utley, second base

Freddy Galvis, shortstop

Cody Asche, third base

Carlos Ruiz, catcher

Odubel Herrera, outfielder

Ben Revere, outfielder

Domonic Brown, outfielder

Yes, Lehigh Valley IronPigs outfielder Domonic Brown is on the All-Star ballot. The release of the ballot led to plenty of jokes from Phillies fans. Jeff Francoeur has started most of the Phillies games in right field thus far, but I think fans would laugh just as much had Francoeur been on the ballot instead.

Balloting is underway for the 86th All-Star Game on July 14 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, with Wednesday's launch of the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot. It begins your annual privilege to decide the starting position players for the American and National Leagues, but there is one big difference now: it's online only.

MLB's All-Star balloting program, which moves forward in a digital world without paper balloting at the ballparks, is the largest of its kind in professional sports. Nearly 160 million ballots have been cast over the past five years, including a record 40.2 million ballots cast in 2012. In addition, more than 300 million votes were submitted in 2014.

February 16, 2015

Today, Jason Giambi announced his retirement to the New York Daily News. Giambi's career spanned 20 years which he played for Oakland, New York Yankees, Colorado, and Cleveland. The former first baseman/designated hitter's career line is .277/.399/.516 in which he recorded 2010 hits, 440 home runs, and drove in 1441 runs. He would win MVP with Oakland in 2000 with a ridiculous 1.123 OPS only to top it in 2001 where he would finish runner up Ichiro Suzuki. Towards the end of his final season in Cleveland in 2014, he gave up his number 25 to Jim Thome when it was retired. His name has been thrown around as a manager candidate a few times before and one would think he might find himself in a coaching position of some sort in the future.

In other Yankees news, the club announced that they will be retiring three numbers in 2015, getting ever so close to being forced into roman numerals or letters. Bad jokes aside, Andy Pettitte's 46 will join the crowded list of Yankees immortals on August 23. Bernie Williams' 51 will be retired on May 24 and Jorge Posada's 20 will be retired on August 22. All three are deserving legends in the game, let alone the Yankees so it's a much deserved honor for the trio.

Last week Jonah Keri took his annual look at the worst contracts in baseball. While Ryan Howard is still hanging in there at number 7 on the top 10, there's plenty of misery to go around on the list with Alex Rodriguez taking the top spot being owed $61 million over the next three seasons. Drama excluded, that's a terrible situation for the Yankees and makes any awkwardness that the Phillies might have this spring look like high school hall chatter.

Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs wrote at length today of the analytics driven website's top 200 prospects list which will be unveiled tomorrow and the steps taken to arrive there. Interesting reading for those who want a better look at how players are ranked.

Lastly, Steve Adams of MLBTR compiled some updates on the top Cuban free agents. Obviously the big name out there is still is Yoan Moncada who has done plenty of work outs but has yet to receive a formal offer.